Diaper or babies napkin fastener

ABSTRACT

A fastener for a baby&#39;s diaper is provided which comprises a generally elastic base member having at least thre claw units spaced apart thereon. The base member can be resiliently extended and the claw units engaged with a cloth or fabric diaper to retain the two ends of the part thereof encircling a baby&#39;s waist in required relative positions and also to hold a portion passing between the baby&#39;s legs in position relative to the former. The claw units are specially designed to properly engage the fabric of a diaper and not to become dislodged therefrom (if properly installed) in use. The fastener obviates the use of conventional safety pins with the associated disadvantages and dangers.

RELATED APPLICATION

This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 07/359,987, filed June 1,1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,571, which is a Continuation-in-Part ofapplication Ser. No. 07/228,295, now abandoned, Filed Aug. 4, 1988,which is a Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 07/184,285, nowabandoned, Filed Apr. 21, 1988.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a diaper or babies, napkin fastenerparticularly adapted for use in conjunction with a diaper (as a baby'snapkin will herein be termed) which is made of cloth or woven fabric, asopposed to disposable paper products. The fastener of this invention is,however, not confined in application to such cloth or woven fabricdiapers.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Diapers can basically be divided into two categories, namely disposablediapers made predominantly of paper products, and which are generallyfastened by means of fastening arrangements which include adhesive, inparticular pressure sensitive adhesive, whereby two overlapping parts ofa diaper can be secured together optionally by means of a strap, and asecond category comprising cloth or woven fabric diapers, particularlythose made of towelling material, and which are washable for re-use. Thelatter types of diaper are traditionally fastened using one or twosafety pins to secure overlapping portions of the cloth or fabrictogether. The use of such safety pins is not only dangerous, both to thebaby and person installing the safety pins in an operative position, butis also tedious.

It is the object of this invention to provide a fastener for use inconjunction with such cloth or fabric diapers which can more easily berendered operative, and which may provide added comfort to a babywearing a diaper fastened with such fastener and furthermore, which isalso less dangerous or likely to cause injury either to the baby orperson fitting the diaper.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this invention there is provided a diaper fasteneroperative to hold a fabric diaper in position on a baby, the fastenercomprising a flexible base member at least a part of which iselastically extensible, and at least three spaced relatively rigid clawunits attached to the base member, the elastically extensible part ofthe base member being interposed between at least two of the claw unitsand wherein each claw unit has a body part which is substantially planarand has a free end region which extends transversely away from the bodyto terminate in a series of laterally spaced teeth offset from the planeof the body and directed inwardly towards a central region of the basemember, the claw units being operative to engage the fabric of a diaperin relevant zones thereof with the elastically extensible part extendedand being operative to maintain the teeth of the claw units inengagement with the fabric to hold the diaper in its functionalposition.

Further features of the invention provide for the base member to have acentral zone from which three arms radiate, with a claw unit beingattached to the end region of each arm opposite the central zone; forthe central zone and arms to be integral with each other and to be madeof flexible elastomeric material; for the entire base member to be madeof injection moulded elastomeric plastics material; for each of the clawunits to be defined by a separately manufactured and substantially rigidunit; and for such separately manufactured units to each have at leastone headed formation passing through a hole in the associated region ofthe base member to retain the claw unit on the base member.

A still further feature of the invention provides for two of said armsto be arranged in substantially collinear relationship but extending inopposite directions from a central zone in which case the third armextends outwardly at roughly right angles thereto.

A still further feature of the invention provides for a finger grip tobe associated with each claw member; for each finger grip to be formedintegral with the elastomeric material of the base member for thecross-sectional area of such finger grip to be appreciably less than thesmallest cross-sectional area of the zone, generally an arm, whichconnects a claw unit with a central zone of the base member; and for thefinger grip to be in the form of a ring.

Regarding the claw units, it is preferred that each claw unit has aminimum of three and preferably four or five teeth extending in a rowacross the width of the claw unit and that the free end region whichextends transversely to the body part of each claw unit be eitherarcuate or inclined in side elevation.

It is to be noted that the material from which the base member ismanufactured, as well as its cross-sectional dimensions, will dictatethe force which need be used to extend the base member to render itoperative. The force should not be too great and should not impose anyundue stress on an infant in respect of which the fastener is used. Itis for this reason that the cross-sectional dimensions of integralfinger grips are preferably made less than the cross-sectional area ofwhat will generally be arms connecting the claw units with a centralzone of the base member so that extension of the finger grip will occurpreferentially and a user will become aware of the fact that excessivestretching is being carried out.

It is to be noted that the offset between the series of teeth and theplane of the body part of each claw unit is extremely important as, withthe teeth engaging in the fabric of a diaper, and the elastic forcebeing exerted on the claw unit in a direction in which the teeth extend,will cause fabric of the diaper to gather in the space between theplanar body part and the teeth which will ensure that the claw unit doesnot become disengaged from the fabric.

It is also to be noted that the length of the teeth is chosen such thatthe will be unable to penetrate more than about one layer of diaperfabric and, in general, they do not penetrate the fabric at all butrather hook into the fabric.

In order that the the invention may be more fully understood variousembodiments thereof will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a diaper on a baby and held inposition by means of a fastener according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a base member according to the inventionwithout the claw units associated therewith;

FIG. 3 is a partly sectioned elevation thereof illustrating one half ofthe base member in cross-section and one claw unit in explodedrelationship relative thereto;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the claw unit of FIG. 3 taken in the directionof arrow "A" in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an inverted plan view of the claw unit illustrated in FIGS. 3and 4; and,

FIGS. 5, 7, & 8 each illustrate in plan view an alternative shape of thebase member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 of thedrawings, a fastener, generally indicated by numeral is composed of abase member 2 made of injection moulded, soft, flexible, elastomericplastics material.

The base member, as shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, is moulded asone integral unit and comprises a central zone 3 from which radiatethree arms, two longer ones 4 of which extend collinearly indiametrically opposite directions and a shorter one 5 of which extendsat right angles thereto. Each of the arms is, accordingly,elastomerically extensible.

Towards the end of each arm is an elongated aperture 6 passingtherethrough and adapted to accommodate the stem 7 of a headed formation8 associated with a claw unit 9 injection moulded from relativelysubstantially rigid plastics material. The headed formation is, as shownin FIG. 3, located towards one end of the claw unit, the body part ofwhich is substantially flat. Although only one such claw unit isillustrated in association with the base in FIG. 3, each of the armscarries one of such units.

Each of the claw units 9 extends, in the operative position, in thegeneral direction of the arm with which it is associated and away fromthe central zone 3 and the free end region of the body part thereofpasses through a transverse zone 10 (which may be arcuate or inclined)to terminate in a laterally offset free edge 11 defining a transverseseries of inwardly directed spaced teeth 12. In this case there are fiveof such teeth spaced apart along the edge.

The direction in which the teeth 12 extend is slightly away from theplane of the base member but generally in a direction towards thecentral zone or towards the other claw units. These teeth are adapted tocatch and engage in the fibres of a cloth or fabric diaper, as indicatedby numeral 13 in FIG. 1 generally without passing through the diaper.The length of the teeth is therefore insufficient to pass through thefabric or at least through more than one layer thereof, and therebyinjure or irritate a baby in use. In this case the length of the teethis about 0.10 inches (2.6 mm) and their spacing about 0.14 inches (3.5mm).

Moulded integral with each of the arms is a finger grip 14 which, in theoperative position, lies above the associated claw unit 9. Such a fingergrip not only assists in extension of the associated arm simply bypulling thereon but is also designed to give a user an indication as tothe force to be applied to the associated arm when rendering itoperative. This is achieved by making the cross-sectional area of thefinger grip, which in this case is a simple ring shape, appreciably lessthan that of the associated arm. The feeling of adequate extension ofthe arm is thereby conveyed to the user by way of the finger grip. Ingeneral about 27 Newtons force has been found to be preferably appliedto the arms during installation of the fastener.

In use, a baby's diaper 13, of the conventional towelling material forexample, is passed around the torso of a baby and a central zone ispassed upwardly between the legs in the usual manner.

The two overlapping portions 15 defining the ends of the portion of thediaper passing around the torso, each have one of the claw units engagedtherewith in succession with the collinear arms 4 interconnecting samebeing extended suitably to provide a desired close fit of the diaperaround the torso and extension being effected by means of the fingergrips as indicated above.

The shorter arm 5 is then extended and its associated claw unit 9engaged with the portion 16 of the diaper passing upwardly from betweenthe legs of the baby.

It will be understood that the above described fastener will hold thediaper firmly in position and, due to its elasticity will indeed allowfor movement and, it is considered, greater comfort to the baby. In thisregard it has been found to be important that the series of teeth belaterally offset from the body of the claw unit as this provides spacefor the diaper fabric to become "bundled-up" in this space. This ensuresthat the teeth do not become disengaged from the fabric.

It will be seen that installation of the fastener provided by thisinvention is both swift and simple as well as being safe and notinvolving any danger to either the baby or the person installing thediaper in consequence of being pricked accidentally by a safety pin inall too well-known fashion.

Various alternative shapes of the base member are also within the scopeof this invention. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, the base member 20 may bemade of elastically extensible material but to a triangular shape withthe hook or tooth formations 21 provided at the apices of the triangle.Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7, the triangular shaped base member 22may have the central zone removed as indicated by numeral 23.

The base member may, as shown in FIG. 8, even be defined by a simpleelastomeric band 24 carrying three claw units 25.

It will also be understood that numerous variations may be made to theabove described embodiment of the invention without departing from thescope hereof which is limited simply to a fastener having a base membercomprising at least three hook or tooth defining formations and whereofat least a part of the base member is elastically extensible in thegeneral manner described above. In particular, the single shorter armcould be replaced by two or more spaced arms for engaging the portion ofa diaper passing between the legs of a baby.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:
 1. A safediaper fastener for holding a fabric diaper on a baby comprising:anintegral, flexible, elastically extensible plastic base member; threeinjection molded, unitary, relatively rigid plastic claw units; andthree spaced apart attachment means on the base member for securing theclaw units to edge portions of the base member; each of the claw unitscomprising:a flat body; means on the flat body for engaging theattachment means and securing the claw unit to the base member; meansfor engaging the fabric of the diaper without penetrating more than onelayer of diaper fabric comprising a row of at least three teeth directedinwardly toward a central region of the body portion; and means foraccommodating a gathering or bunching of diaper fabric beneath the flatbody without disengaging the teeth from the fabric, comprising atransverse zone connecting the flat body and the teeth and spacing theteeth apart from the flat body.
 2. A fastener as claimed in claim 1wherein the claw units are separately manufactured and are substantiallyrigid units separably connected to the base member.
 3. A fastener asclaimed in claim 2 further comprising means for extending theelastically extensible part of the base member comprising an annularfinger grip in proximity to each claw unit.